Eight-Up CTP Innovates

Advances in automation, imaging, and throughput speed help fuel continued interest in eight-up computer-to-plate machines.

By Erin Core, Associate Editor -- Graphic Arts Online, May 1, 2004

The eight-up computer-to-plate (CTP) market is maturing, but it's not stagnant. Equipment manufacturers are offering improved features such as advanced automation and imaging technologies, and energy-efficient designs to attract buyers who are new to the market or looking to upgrade their existing prepress equipment.

In fact, even in today's depressed market, planned investment in eight-up CTP grew to 6% of surveyed printers between spring and fall 2003, according to TrendWatch Graphic Arts research. In spring 1999, that figure was as low as 1%, and in fall 2000 it was 8%.

"Many printers have not yet adopted a CTP system, and many that adopted years ago are now looking for a replacement device that has more features like automation and in-line punching, plus better quality and higher productivity levels," says Peter Vanderlaan, group manager of electronic imaging output products for Enovation Graphic Systems, a Fujifilm company.

Gains from workflow

In addition, notes Agfa CTP systems senior marketing manager Dave Furman, "Today, the gains from CTP come not only from the platesetter/plate solution, but also from advanced workflow, ink-jet proofing, digital asset management tools, and more."

"We are seeing increased activity with printers investing in CTP," Furman adds, with many printers at the "reinvestment stage" and looking for newer, more fully automated technologies.

Among these technologies are platesetters from the Agfa Galileo and Xcalibur families.

The violet Galileo line consists of the VS (producing up to 17 plates per hour at 2,400 dpi), VXT (22 plates per hour at 2,400 dpi), and entry-level VE (12 plates per hour). New to this line is a 30-mW laser diode that will be offered on all of Agfa's violet models from mid-2004 onward. Since the 30-mW system will allow customers to run either Agfa's new N91V violet photpolymer plate or its Lithostar violet plate, the system offers lower monthly operating costs, Furman says, especially when long runs are required or abrasive inks are being used.

In its thermal line, Agfa highlights the new Xcalibur 45 XXT, "an extension of the GLV [grating light valve] technology that Agfa pioneered two years ago," Furman notes. Built for speed, the XXT is capable of imaging 40 full-format eight-up plates per hour. Xcalibur systems also can be used with Agfa's optional PlateManager, a flexible plate loading system that keeps different types of plates on line and ready for use.

Drop-in flexibility

BasysPrint has a unique approach to the eight-up CTP market, offering what it calls "CTcP"—computer-to-conventional-plate, which images using ultraviolet light.

"When most people purchase a CTP device, they also have to choose a new plate supplier and make decisions about new plates," says BasysPrint national sales manager Mike Stone. "What we offer is the option to allow you to keep the same plate that you have today, which requires no change in your pressroom. We simply replace the vacuum frame and imagesetter with one device that exposes your current plates."

Stone says this drop-in technology is designed to have minimal impact on the pressroom environment.

Further, BasysPrint's eight-up UV-Setter 710-f and f2 offerings image in a naturally linear state, says Stone. "You don't need to calibrate the devices on a daily basis," he says, adding that both are offered in single-cassette to fully automated five-cassette autoloading options, with a choice of single- and dual-head imaging technologies (the f and f2 designations, respectively).

Additionally, Stone relates, the image quality of BasysPrint's UV-based technology, which uses a small, square spot with extremely sharp edges, "allows us to image at a lower resolution and still get a sharper-looking image," a claim backed up by an independent Fogra study in Germany, Stone says.

Automation and efficiency

Creo, whose worldwide platesetter installations number more than 6,000, offers within its eight-up thermal platesetter family the Trendsetter 800 II and Trendsetter 800 II Quantum, and Lotem 800 II and 800 II Quantum machines. The "Type II" designation signifies an important development in Creo's platesetter line, explains Jamie Lyall, Creo product manager for four- and eight-up Trendsetters. "We now have a lot of common electronics and software in the systems," which streamlines performance and offers efficiencies across both platforms, Lyall explains.

When the Type II designation was introduced last year, it brought increased speed across the product line, with three designations available—standard, fast, and very fast. The Trendsetter 800 II can image up to 34 plates per hour with a continuous-load or autoload option, Lyall adds.

While both the Trendsetter and Lotem lines feature numerous automation options, the Lotem 800 II offers the most automation in standard single-, dual-, or multiple-cassette formats, along with in-line punch and slipsheet removal.

At Drupa, Creo is highlighting its Lotem 800 II Quantum with multiple-cassette automation, in addition to the Trendsetter with continuous-load option.

Kennickell Printing, a $12 million third-generation commercial printer in Savannah, Ga. and early adopter of CTP, installed its first Trendsetter more than five years ago, operating within a Brisque workflow. Says company owner Al Kennickell, the shop, which runs two six-color 40" Komori presses as well as a six-color 28" Heidelberg, has experienced dramatically improved throughput via the use of the Trendsetter.

"It produces plates faster than we can mount them on press and print with them," he asserts. "Without a doubt, the biggest-impact piece of equipment we ever purchased, in all the years we've been in business, has been this CTP device."

Bottleneck in platemaking

Prior to the Trendsetter installation, says Kennickell, the shop was limited in the number of jobs it could run because of a bottleneck in platemaking. "As a result, we weren't able to add another press because we couldn't plate fast enough to keep everything going," he relates. "Since we put this device in, we've added the second six-color 40" press. We are about twice the size now as we were before we put CTP in."

ECRM is debuting its eight-up Mako 8 violet-based system at Drupa 2004.

"We've been associated over the years with smaller-format devices," says Peter Wilkens, vice president of worldwide marketing for ECRM. But having captured a "healthy market share" with an eight-up filmsetter device years ago, the company felt confident it could find similar success with an eight-up platesetter.

Price of an imagesetter

ECRM aims to show that "you can now buy a CTP device for the price of an imagesetter," states Wilkens, pointing to Mako's price tag of $84,000. The manufacturer also emphasizes Mako's format flexibility. "We've got a product that goes from 32.4" all the way down to 10×10"," he explains, "which gives an eight-up printer the opportunity to run all of its different presses on one CTP device."

Additionally, says Wilkens, Mako 8 features a unique registration system. "Users can install different integrated pin bar systems, enabling them to register plates with a system that matches a press"—a big benefit for shops with presses from multiple manufacturers, he states.

Mako 8 also offers a powerful 60-mW violet diode, a technology that ECRM developed through its own optical company. "Violet systems are about one-fifth the price for the customer," Wilkens states, adding that the 60-mW diode allows for a broad range of imaging resolutions from 1,880 to 3,556 dpi.

Options afford power

Esko-Graphics' 40-mW violet laser-based PlateDriver 8 employs the company's Freebeam laser technology, which can expose both violet silver-halide and photopolymer plates.

"Freebeam technology concentrates the beam so that it hits the plate at the same spot every time," says Dave Mitchell, director of sales for Esko-Graphics. "There's no angle to the beam, so light isn't diffused. You get a sharp, hard-dot exposure on the plate, which improves run length."

Further, Mitchell states, Freebeam's increased power means that the PlateDriver can expose photopolymer plates at the same imaging speed as silver-based plates.

In addition to the Freebeam laser, users can elect the use of a thermal, argon-ion, or FD-YAG laser, depending on their plate preference. Says Mitchell, "The machine can be upgraded as well: if you purchase a semi-automatic model, it can be traded up to a fully automatic version later on." With the automatic version, he says, users can achieve an on-line plate capacity of 500 plates.

Hinsdale, Ill.-based IBLP uses a PlateDriver to image plates for use on two of its 40" Heidelberg presses.

"We purchased the device about a year ago when violet was just being proven, and we knew we wanted its quick exposure time capabilities," says IBLP print shop manager Ted Pallock. "When we got our 10-color press, we knew we couldn't do film and plating the old-fashioned way–-it just gobbled up plates in no time at all. But when we got the Plate-Driver going, we did 84 plates in one day. It was amazing to us."

Fujifilm offers its visible-light violet Saber series and thermal Javelin and Dart lines in eight-up models.

According to Peter Vanderlaan of Enovation, customers are particularly excited about violet technology.

"The Violet Saber series offers customers the 'big three': speed, quality, and price," he notes, adding that his company has shipped more than 500 violet Sabers since their introduction 18 months ago.

The Javelin series comprises five different devices, ranging from the Javelin E, which produces eight plates per hour, to the all-new Javelin 9800, which runs nearly 30 plates per hour, Vanderlaan says. These devices feature "long run lengths, high-quality fine-line screening, daylight operation, and in-line press punching," he adds.

The Javelin 9800, being shown at Drupa this year, also benefits from GLV technology with a 512-channel laser diode exposure head, offering "superior image quality at new levels of productivity," Vanderlaan reports.

Violet demand increasing

Heidelberg also is seeing increased interest in violet-based technology, as demand for its violet Prosetter device continues to grow.

"Interest in the Prosetter has been huge, and is gaining," says Heidelberg USA prepress marketing director Raymond Cassino, who adds that more than 850 Prosetters have been sold worldwide. "It's an affordable solution for any size printer." The company also manufactures a thermal device, the Topsetter.

According to Cassino, the highly automated Prosetter system can expose processless plates and a wide range of plate formats, offers internal punching, is field-upgradeable to higher-speed throughput, and offers automatic plate-feeding capability.

"In addition," he says, "unique to violet CTP, the Prosetter has built-in temperature compensation," which makes up for the temperature swings that can expand or contract aluminum plates.

At Drupa, Heidelberg is expanding Prosetter's automation with a multiple-cassette loader, capable of handling up to four cassettes on line, each of which can handle 150 6-mm or 100 12-mm plates. The enhanced machine automatically removes slipsheets and stores them in a 400-sheet-capacity bin, and automatically swaps plate cassettes on demand. Current single-cassette Prosetters also are field-upgradeable to multi-cassette versions.

"Plate on demand"

Heidelberg also is featuring at Drupa its "Plate on Demand" concept, designed to integrate the Prosetter directly with the pressroom, says Cassino. Using Heidelberg's Prinect CP2000 Center and the new MetaDimension 5.0, a press operator can select a job or plate on his touchscreen and start plate imaging. A Prosetter with full automation then allows the plate to be fed, slipsheet removed, then imaged, punched, and processed—all with little to no prepress knowledge on the operator's part.

Krause is the oldest player in CTP and has established itself as a leader in the violet realm, says Dan Wilzinski, president of Krause CTP USA. Though the company offers violet, thermal, and YAG CTP technologies, "violet certainly is the future of the business," he notes, adding that nearly 100% of the company's U.S. installations are violet-based machines.

The company's latest version of its LaserStar model, on display at Drupa, can expose polymer plates from a range of manufacturers, according to the manufacturer.

Also at Drupa, Lüscher is showing its eight-up thermal Xpose! 130 system, demonstrating how two of the devices can be connected to a fully robotic dual plate-handling system to automatically load and unload plates. The internal-drum-based Xpose! machine is modular and upgradeable.

New dimension

Presstek offers its Dimension 800, which uses the company's ProFire integrated thermal imaging technology.

The Dimension 800 device can image Presstek's process-free Applause and water-wash Anthem plates [see related story on page 36 in this issue] in 5.1 minutes at 2,540 dpi at maximum plate size.

Says John O'Rourke, Presstek marketing director for digital media, "By using the Dimension 800 with the new, environmentally friendly plates, you get rid of a lot of the steps associated with CTP. And in so doing, you take out a lot of cost centers and variables."

At Graph Expo last year, Presstek announced a reseller agreement with EFI to market and distribute the Velocity OneFlow automated workflow system with the Dimension family of CTP systems as a bundled solution.

Safety in redundancy

The Screen (USA) PlateRite family of thermal platesetters remains the company's flagship product line, according to Mark Crawford, CTP product manager for Screen USA. The top-selling PlateRite 8600 features an output rating of 20 plates per hour at 2,400 dpi.

According to Bob Costello, vice president of production for Costello Brothers, Alhambra, Calif., which recently invested in a Plate-Rite 8100, one of the machine's advantages is the fact that it uses 16 separate infrared lasers instead of a single unit.

"The multiple-laser configuration is a good safety measure in case a laser burns out," Costello says. "The remaining lasers continue to image plates, but compensate to ensure proper exposure." This is an important feature for a smaller-size shop that "can't afford to have the machine go down," he adds.

Costello says he also appreciates the device's intelligent auto-balance system, which eliminates the need for manual adjustments to attain drum balance when switching to different-size plates. The shop uses the machine to image Kodak Polychrome Graphics' Sword non-prebake plates.

"Since we plugged the PlateRite in, we've been making digital plates for every job that has come through the shop," Costello asserts. "Our prepress production is much smoother, and turnaround times are faster."

Strobbe Graphics, a division of Punch International, offers its eight-up PS 36, a manual flatbed product featuring either violet or YAG imaging capability.

The company offers automated features in its larger models as well, says vice president of sales Jim Frankiewicz. What distinguishes Strobbe's offerings is "accuracy on the press," he states, noting that Strobbe also manufactures punching and bending equipment, and integrates these features into its devices for improved performance.

To Learn More, Visit…
Agfa: agfa.com	BasysPrint: basysprint.com	Creo: creo.com
ECRM: ecrm.com	Esko-Graphics: esko-graphics.com	Fujifilm/Enovation: enovationgraphics.com
Heidelberg: heidelbergusa.com	Krause: krause.de/eng/1.php	Lüscher: luescher.com
Presstek: presstek.com	Screen: screenusa.com	Strobbe: strobbegraphics.com